Help Team ICU Raise $10,000 at the Around the Bay and Paris to Ancaster Race!

At the 2018 Around the Bay Race, the St. Joseph’s Healthcare ICU Team will be taking Footsteps for Footprints! Footprints is a project developed to personalize patient care and to improve the sense of humanity in the technology-driven environment of the ICU. Each person’s Footprint tells an important story.

Critically ill patients admitted to the ICU often have complicated medical needs requiring life sustaining treatment. In this setting, it is sometimes difficult to see beyond a patient’s acute condition and acknowledge each person’s unique story or footprint. We use whiteboards and forms to gather personal information about a patient before, during, and beyond their critical illness

Information from Footprints is empowering for our ICU patients, who are often unable to communicate. Families may be reassured that a well-informed care team can develop health care goals that are aligned with their loved one’s personal values. For clinicians, learning about their patient as a person with roles, hobbies, and needs creates a greater sense of satisfaction and meaning in their work. Footprints information helps to improve communication between families, patients, and the healthcare team.

We have pledged to raise $10,000 for the Footprints initiative to help support further research on the impact of Footprints on patients, families, and healthcare professionals and to determine if the project would be beneficial in other areas of the hospital.